Alberta coal production falls 18.1% on month in January: AER

Houston — Coal production in Canada's Alberta fell to 1.28 million mt in January, down 18.1% from 1.56 million mt in December, and 34.3% lower than 1.95 million mt in January 2020, data from the Alberta Energy Regulator showed March 16.

It was the province's lowest output for the corresponding month in over 13 years, according to AER data that goes back to 2009.

Bituminous thermal coal output dropped to 778,352 mt in January, down from the six-month high of 888,194 mt in December, but up from 644,620 mt in the year-ago month. It was the highest corresponding month for bituminous thermal coal production since 837,824 mt in January 2011.

For the sixth straight month, all the bituminous thermal coal came from Coalspur Mines Ltd's Vista thermal mine, which is owned by the Cline Group and based in Hinton. The mine produced 401,006 mt in January 2020.

Coalspur, which first started output in February 2019, produced 8.47 million mt in 2020, nearly tripling the 2019 output of 3.04 million mt.

For the seventh time in the last nine months, Alberta's other bituminous thermal mine, Coal Valley, which is owned by Westmoreland Mining Holdings, did not produce any coal in January.

Bituminous thermal coal production totaled 9.42 million mt in 2020, up 26.2% year on year and the highest for the corresponding period in over 12 years, according to AER data.

Both Coal Valley and Coalspur, which are mined from the same seam, ship all of their coal by rail to ports on the west coast of British Columbia for deliveries to power plants overseas.

According to AER data, an eight-month high of 546,637 mt of bituminous thermal coal was exported from Alberta in January, up from 392,958 mt in December, and 202,298 mt in January 2020. It was the most exported since 584,562 mt in May 2020.

Japan received 325,235 mt in January, up from 157,453 mt in December and none in January 2020. It was the highest volume exported to Japan since 329,425 mt in June 2014.

Around 174,818 mt of thermal coal was exported to Chile in January, up from 73,400 mt in December and none in the year-ago month.

Ontario received 10,436 mt in January -- the first shipment to the province since November 2011. An additional 36,238 mt was exported to Pacific ports, down from 162,105 mt in December, and 29,340 mt in the year-ago month.

About 5.46 million mt of bituminous thermal was exported in 2020, up from 3.63 million mt in 2019 and the highest volume in over 12 years.

Alberta shipped 1.67 million mt of thermal coal to South Korea and 1.45 million mt to Japan in 2020, compared with 582,732 mt and 607,163 mt, respectively, in 2019. The province also exported 1.03 million mt to Chile and 758,194 mt to Singapore, compared with none and 1.62 million mt, respectively, in 2019.

Sub-bituminous output drops to 4-month low

Sub-bituminous coal production at the five mines in the province fell to a four-month low of 502,149 mt in January, down from 674,810 mt in December and 809,706 mt in January 2020. It was the lowest volume produced in the corresponding month in over 13 years.

Cumulative sub-bituminous production in 2020 was at 7.8 million mt, down from 12.67 million mt in 2019, and the lowest in a year in over 12 years.

Metallurgical coal production fell to 2.3 million mt in 2020, down from 4.71 million mt produced a year earlier and the lowest since 1.96 million mt was produced in 2017. Cardinal River Coals last produced met coal in June 2020, while CST Canada Coal closed its met coal mine in May 2020.